Mythic Dread surfaces: Andrew Chiaramonte’s Young & Cursed, a chilling thriller, streaming October 2025 across global platforms

This haunting unearthly nightmare movie from cinematographer / helmer Andrew Chiaramonte, unbinding an archaic dread when unfamiliar people become proxies in a devilish contest. Launching October 2, 2025, on Prime Video, Google’s YouTube, Google Play, Apple’s iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango streaming.

Los Angeles, CA (August 8, 2025) – be warned for *Young & Cursed*, a harrowing episode of staying alive and archaic horror that will alter terror storytelling this ghoul season. Created by rising master of suspense Andrew Chiaramonte, this unsettling and emotionally thick film follows five characters who emerge locked in a unreachable shack under the unfriendly influence of Kyra, a possessed female inhabited by a millennia-old sacrosanct terror. Be prepared to be immersed by a cinematic ride that unites primitive horror with timeless legends, debuting on Prime Video, YouTube, Google Play, iTunes, Apple TV+, and Fandango at Home on the second of October, 2025.


Cursed embodiment has been a recurring trope in visual storytelling. In *Young & Cursed*, that idea is redefined when the monsters no longer develop from an outside force, but rather deep within. This embodies the darkest element of each of them. The result is a psychologically brutal mental war where the conflict becomes a merciless battle between right and wrong.


In a unforgiving natural abyss, five characters find themselves cornered under the dark aura and inhabitation of a unknown apparition. As the ensemble becomes unresisting to resist her curse, disconnected and hunted by unknowns unnamable, they are cornered to acknowledge their soulful dreads while the seconds unforgivingly ticks toward their final moment.


In *Young & Cursed*, paranoia rises and alliances crack, prompting each figure to scrutinize their self and the philosophy of liberty itself. The pressure mount with every minute, delivering a paranormal ride that weaves together unearthly horror with psychological weakness.

Andrew Chiaramonte, Director: “With *Young & Cursed*, my creative target was to extract primal fear, an threat that predates humanity, emerging via mental cracks, and highlighting a spirit that erodes the self when robbed of choice.”

Madison Hubler (Kyra): “Transforming into Kyra required summoning something far beyond human desperation. She is unseeing until the evil takes hold, and that metamorphosis is eerie because it is so close.”

Where to Watch

*Young & Cursed* will be streamed for streaming beginning October 2, 2025, on Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google’s store, Apple iTunes, Apple’s streaming platform, and Fandango at Home—allowing watchers around the globe can watch this spirit-driven thriller.


Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has just uploaded a new sneak peek #2 for *Young & Cursed*, available to watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/zu0n4WmPI1s, as a additional glimpse to its original promo, which has attracted over a hundred thousand impressions.


In addition to its North American premiere, Chiaramonte Films, Inc. has announced that *Young & Cursed* will also be launched globally, giving access to the movie to fans of fear everywhere.


Be sure to catch this soul-jarring journey into fear. Confront *Young & Cursed* this October 2 to face these spiritual awakenings about inner darkness.


For sneak peeks, special features, and reveals from the creators, follow @YACFilm across entertainment pages and visit the official digital haunt.





Today’s horror major pivot: 2025 across markets U.S. calendar Mixes primeval-possession lore, independent shockers, stacked beside tentpole growls

Moving from survival horror steeped in near-Eastern lore and including IP renewals and keen independent perspectives, 2025 is coalescing into the most variegated in tandem with calculated campaign year in ten years.

The 2025 horror calendar reads less like chaos, more like a plan. top-tier distributors lay down anchors with known properties, while premium streamers flood the fall with emerging auteurs set against legend-coded dread. In parallel, the art-house flank is catching the afterglow of a peak 2024 circuit. Given Halloween is the centerpiece, the rest of the calendar is filling out with surgical precision. The autumn corridor is the classic sprint, and now, rollouts stretch into January, spring, and mid-summer. Horror fans are craving, studios are surgical, thus 2025 could register as the most purpose-built year yet.

Studio and Mini-Major Strategies: Prestige-leaning dread rebounds

No one at the top is standing still. If 2024 set the stage for reinvention, 2025 doubles down.

Universal’s slate starts the year with a statement play: a contemporary Wolf Man, avoiding the standard nineteenth century European backdrop, in a modern-day environment. Guided by Leigh Whannell and starring Christopher Abbott and Julia Garner, this pass grounds the lycanthropy in household collapse. The change is not purely bodily, it is marital, parental, and achingly human. set for mid January, it backs a move to shape winter into a prestige corridor, not a discard corridor.

Spring delivers Clown in a Cornfield, a YA slasher conversion presented as stripped terror. Eli Craig directs starring Katie Douglas opposite Kevin Durand, it comes as grit laced American nightmare with sardonic edge. Under the makeup, it dissects provincial panic, age gap tensions, and mob verdicts. Early reactions hint at fangs.

As summer eases, Warner’s slate delivers the closing chapter of its steadiest horror franchise: The Conjuring: Last Rites. With Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson back as Ed and Lorraine Warren, the installment aims for closure as it frames a famed case. Granted the structure is classic, Michael Chaves is rumored to steer toward a somber, reflective register for the close. It sets in early September, opening runway before October heat.

Following that is The Black Phone 2. It was eyed for early summer, and shifting to October telegraphs confidence. Derrickson re engages, and so do the signature elements that made the first installment a sleeper hit: retrograde shiver, trauma centered writing, with ghostly inner logic. This time the stakes climb, with more excavation of the “grabber” canon and family hauntings.

Finishing the tentpole list is Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, a property whose brand does the lifting. The follow up digs further into canon, expands its animatronic nightmare roster, courting teens and the thirty something base. It hits in December, holding the cold season’s end.

SVOD Originals: Small budgets, sharp fangs

While cinemas swing on series strength, platforms are embracing risk, and engagement climbs.

A flagship risky title is Weapons, a cold case horror anthology interlacing three eras linked by a mass vanishing. Directed by Zach Cregger pairing Josh Brolin and Julia Garner, the piece merges terror with dramatic mass. Premiering theatrically in late summer before a fall streaming drop, it may catalyze deconstruction threads like Barbarian.

At the smaller scale sits Together, a two hander body horror spiral anchored by Alison Brie and Dave Franco. Taking place in an isolated rental as a retreat goes wrong, the arc observes love and green eyed envy and self harm turned somatic. It lands sweet then sick then searing, a three step spin into codependent hell. With no dated platform window yet, it is destined for a fall landing.

On the docket is Sinners, a thirties era vampire folk parable starring Michael B. Jordan. Rendered in sepia depth and layered biblical metaphor, it nods to There Will Be Blood beside Let the Right One In. The movie studies American religious trauma through the supernatural lens. Trial screenings frame it as a high chatter SVOD arrival.

More streamer bound indies stand by in the shadows: Bring Her Back, Bone Lake, and Keeper each explores grief and disappearance and identity, opting allegory above bombast.

Possession With Depth: Young & Cursed

Landing October 2 across key streamers, Young & Cursed plays as a rare fusion, spare in setting, sweeping in lore. From writer director Andrew Chiaramonte, the arc centers on five strangers who wake inside a backcountry cabin, beneath Kyra’s command, a young woman possessed by the ancient biblical demon Lilith. With the dark, her reach grows, a parasitic force exploiting fears, flaws, and shame.

The menace is mind forward, supercharged by primal myth. Not another exorcism story reliant on Catholic rite and Latin phrase, this one reaches back to something older, something darker. Lilith resists liturgy, she blooms through trauma, secrecy, and human delicacy. This inside out possession reframes expectation and groups Young & Cursed with a rising current, intimate character dramas within genre.

On Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV, YouTube, Google Play, and Fandango at Home, the film acts as a Halloween counterpoint to sequel pipelines and creature comebacks. It reads as sharp positioning. No overweight mythology. No legacy baggage. Pure psyche terror, contained and taut, sized for the binge then exhale flow of digital viewers. In a year crowded with spectacle, Young & Cursed may stand out by going quiet, then screaming.

Festival Badges as Fuel

Fantastic Fest, SXSW, Tribeca, and TIFF serve as nurseries for near future horror. They serve less as display cases, more as runways.

Fantastic Fest this cycle touts a strong horror menu. Primate bows as a tropical body horror opener with Cronenberg and Herzog echoes. Whistle, revenge folklore with Aztec roots, is poised to close with blaze.

Midnight slots like If I Had Legs I’d Kick You earn noise for execution beyond quirky names. That film, an A24 backed satire of toxic fandom inside a horror convention lockdown, looks poised to break out.

SXSW rolled out Clown in a Cornfield and a clutch of microbudget haunts near deals. Sundance appears set for grief threaded elevated horror once more, while Tribeca’s genre section leans more urban, social, and surreal.

Festival strategy in 2025 is not just about discovery, it is about branding. Laurels now light the fuse, they do not just adorn.

Long Running Lines: Sequels, Reboots, and Reinvention

The legacy lineup looks stronger and more deliberate than prior years.

Fear Street: Prom Queen, due in July, revives the ’90s horror franchise with a new lead and a throwback tone. Compared to earlier parts, it tilts camp and prom night melodrama. Cue tiaras, phony blood, and VHS panic.

M3GAN 2.0 slots late June, with a plan to deepen its techno horror mythos via new characters and AI terrors. The first title’s online shareability and streaming stickiness fuel Universal’s appetite.

Another headline is The Long Walk, adapting a grim early Stephen King piece, under Francis Lawrence, it reads as a brutal dystopian allegory inside survival horror, a walk till you drop competition for kids with no winners. If sold right, it could sit as The Hunger Games for adult horror fans.

Elsewhere, reboots and sequels like Hell House LLC: Lineage, V/H/S/Halloween, The Toxic Avenger, and Anaconda pepper the schedule, many waiting on strategic holds or late deals.

Trend Lines

Ancient myth goes wide
Young & Cursed with Lilith and Whistle with Aztec curses both signal ancient texts and symbols. This is less nostalgia, more reclamation of pre Christian archetypes. Horror goes beyond fright, it notes evil’s age.

Body horror reemerges
Work like Together, Weapons, and Keeper revisit the flesh. Mutation, infection, transformation serve as metaphors for heartbreak, grief, and regret.

Streaming Originals Grow Teeth
Junk fill horror on platforms is receding. SVOD players fund strong scripts, proven directors, and real spend. Releases like Weapons and Sinners are elevated to events, not just content.

Festival heat turns into leverage
Laurels are not just decorative, they leverage theatrical, premium placement, and media cycles. In 2025, a horror film lacking festival plan may fade.

Theatrical release is a trust fall
Studios hold theatrical for overperformers or future series seeds. The rest moves to PVOD or hybrid patterns. Horror stays in theaters, in chosen pockets.

Outlook: Fall crush plus winter X factor

With Young & Cursed, The Conjuring: Last Rites, The Black Phone 2, and Weapons all stacked across September and October, the fall is downright saturated. Indies like Bone Lake and Keeper must claw for air. Look for a pivot by one or more into early 2026 or to new platforms.

With Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 in December, a stealth streamer drop might pop near year end. With mythic energy high, a late creature or exorcism entry could pop.

The hinge is broad reach to atomized viewers, not single tentpoles. The plan is not to clone Get Out, it is to craft horror that lives on beyond box office.



The next Horror calendar year ahead: returning titles, filmmaker-first projects, in tandem with A loaded Calendar tailored for frights

Dek The fresh genre calendar builds up front with a January glut, subsequently unfolds through summer corridors, and straight through the holiday frame, combining IP strength, fresh ideas, and tactical counter-scheduling. Distributors with platforms are leaning into lean spends, box-office-first windows, and viral-minded pushes that elevate these pictures into national conversation.

The state of horror, heading into 2026

Horror filmmaking has proven to be the sturdy move in studio calendars, a lane that can expand when it lands and still insulate the drag when it under-delivers. After the 2023 year reconfirmed for buyers that disciplined-budget genre plays can drive cultural conversation, 2024 carried the beat with high-profile filmmaker pieces and sleeper breakouts. The trend moved into the 2025 frame, where reboots and critical darlings underscored there is demand for varied styles, from ongoing IP entries to director-led originals that travel well. The takeaway for the 2026 slate is a slate that seems notably aligned across the industry, with planned clusters, a spread of marquee IP and original hooks, and a refocused attention on release windows that feed downstream value on paid VOD and home streaming.

Studio leaders note the category now acts as a plug-and-play option on the release plan. The genre can premiere on many corridors, deliver a quick sell for marketing and reels, and lead with patrons that respond on opening previews and stay strong through the week two if the offering lands. Post a strike-driven backlog, the 2026 cadence demonstrates conviction in that engine. The calendar opens with a heavy January stretch, then plants flags in spring and early summer for contrast, while saving space for a fall run that pushes into the fright window and into post-Halloween. The gridline also spotlights the continuing integration of specialized imprints and digital platforms that can build gradually, grow buzz, and go nationwide at the proper time.

A reinforcing pattern is brand management across shared IP webs and heritage properties. The players are not just producing another sequel. They are working to present lineage with a marquee sheen, whether that is a graphic identity that signals a fresh attitude or a talent selection that binds a fresh chapter to a first wave. At the same time, the writer-directors behind the high-profile originals are prioritizing practical craft, in-camera effects and location-forward worlds. That alloy offers 2026 a strong blend of trust and freshness, which is how the films export.

The studios and mini-majors, and how they are playing the year

Paramount establishes early momentum with two marquee projects that cover both tonal poles. First comes Scream 7 on February 27, 2026, with original architect Kevin Williamson in the director’s chair and Neve Campbell back at the core, positioning the film as both a baton pass and a return-to-roots character-centered film. The shoot is ongoing in Atlanta, and the story approach signals a legacy-leaning mode without recycling the last two entries’ family thread. The studio is likely to mount a drive anchored in classic imagery, first images of characters, and a rollout cadence hitting late fall. Distribution is Paramount in theaters.

Paramount also resurrects a once-mighty spoof franchise with Scary Movie 6 on June 12, 2026, directed by Michael Tiddes. Anna Faris and Regina Hall are reforming, with the Wayans brothers involved in development for the first time since the early 2000s, a centerpiece the campaign will feature. As a off-tentpole summer play, this one will chase wide buzz through gif-able moments, with the horror spoof format supporting quick shifts to whatever dominates trend lines that spring.

Universal has three specific pushes. SOULM8TE premieres January 9, 2026, a AI-tinged spinoff from the M3GAN universe from Atomic Monster and Blumhouse. The story engine is simple, grief-rooted, and big-hook: a grieving man purchases an artificial companion that turns into a lethal partner. The date lines it up at the front of a front-loaded month, with the marketing arm likely to revisit uncanny live moments and snackable content that interweaves attachment and creep.

On May 8, 2026, the studio positions an untitled Rob Savage horror film, widely assumed to be the feature developed under early labels in the family-in-peril vein, with Jessica Chastain top-lining. The dated slate currently lists it as an untitled Savage project, which allows a final title to become an PR pop closer to the first trailer. The timing gives Universal a foothold in early May while larger tentpoles cluster around other dates.

Rounding out the studio’s year, Jordan Peele’s untitled event film books October 23, 2026, a slot he has dominated before. Peele projects are framed as director events, with a teaser with minimal detail and a second beat that tee up tone without spoiling the concept. The spooky-season slot offers Universal room to dominate pre-holiday auditoriums with PLF and IMAX bookings where available, then lean on the copyright window to capture late-October interest at home.

Warner Bros., via New Line, pairs with Sony internationally for Evil Dead Burn, dated July 24, 2026. Sébastien Vaniček helms, with Souheila Yacoub headlining. The franchise has proven that a gnarly, hands-on effects treatment can feel high-value on a efficient spend. Position this as a hard-R summer horror rush that emphasizes global rollout, with Warner Bros. handling U.S. and Sony taking most global territories.

Sony’s horror bench is well stocked. The studio sets two IP moves in the back half. An untitled Insidious film debuts August 21, 2026, sustaining a consistent supernatural brand alive while the spin-off branch continues to develop. Sony has shifted dates on this title before, but the current plan holds it in late summer, where the brand has long performed.

Then, on September 18, 2026, Resident Evil returns in what Sony is marketing as a from-the-ground-up reboot for its game-to-film powerhouse. With the PlayStation Productions pipeline now a primary part of the studio’s strategy, this new take has a clearer mandate to serve both players and newcomers. The fall slot hands Sony window to build marketing units around world-building, and monster aesthetics, elements that can amplify deluxe auditorium demand and cosplayer momentum.

Focus Features, working with Working Title, places a prestige bet on Christmas Day with Robert Eggers’ Werwulf on December 25, 2026. Set in 13th-century England, the film extends the filmmaker’s run of period horror rooted in meticulous craft and dialect, this time steeped in lycan lore. The company has already booked the frame for a holiday release, a signal of faith in Eggers as a specialty play that can open narrow then widen if early reception is positive.

Platform lanes and windowing

Digital strategies for 2026 run on known playbooks. Universal’s horror titles transition to copyright after a cinema-first plus PVOD, a ladder that enhances both first-week urgency and subscriber lifts in the post-theatrical. Prime Video balances third-party pickups with worldwide buys and select theatrical runs when the data encourages it. Max and Hulu work their advantages in catalog engagement, using featured rows, holiday hubs, and staff picks to extend momentum on overall cume. Netflix plays opportunist about first-party entries and festival deals, timing horror entries tight to release and making event-like releases with quick-run campaigns. Shudder, integrated with RLJE and Cineverse’s theatrical footprint, harnesses a staged of precision theatrical plays and quick platforming that funnels enthusiasm into trials. That will prove important for Return to Silent Hill, which Cineverse is releasing in theaters January 23, 2026, before using fan funnels in the months that follow.

Apple TV+ cherry-picks horror on a discrete basis. The platform has shown a willingness to secure select projects with name filmmakers or headline-cast packages, then give them a modest theatrical in partnership with exhibitors to meet awards-qualifying thresholds or to build credibility before the streaming drop. Hulu and Disney’s domestic pipeline still feeds from the 20th Century Studios slate, a important input for ongoing engagement when the genre conversation surges.

Art-house genre prospects

Cineverse is putting together a 2026 lane with two brand-forward moves. Return to Silent Hill lands in January with Christophe Gans returning to his adaptation of Konami’s classic title. The proposition is direct: the same brooding, fog-choked atmosphere that made the original a cult classic, recalibrated for modern mix and grade. Later in the year, Wolf Creek: Legacy is expected in a fall window, with Greg McLean back steering his outback slasher universe. Cineverse has signaled a theatrical-first plan for the title, an constructive signal for fans of the ferocious series and for exhibitors needing R-rated alternatives in the September weeks.

Focus will work the director lane with Werwulf, guiding the film through autumn festivals if the cut is ready, then working the holiday slot to widen. That positioning has delivered for auteur horror with audience crossover. A24, NEON, IFC Films, RLJE, and Magnet have not released many dates in public calendars yet, but their festival pipelines tend to firm up after Sundance, Berlin, and Cannes. A credible outlook is a brace of late-summer and fall platformers that can broaden if reception allows. Look for an A24 acquisition out of Sundance midnight slots and a NEON title that launches at Cannes before a September or October domestic bow. RLJE and Shudder often work in concert, using boutique theatrical to seed evangelism that fuels their subscriber base.

Franchise entries versus originals

By tilt, 2026 favors the franchise column. Scream 7, Insidious, Resident Evil, Evil Dead Burn, and Return to Silent Hill all harness legacy awareness. The trade-off, as ever, is audience fatigue. The pragmatic answer is to package each entry as a recalibration. Paramount is spotlighting character and continuity in Scream 7, Sony is suggesting a from-scratch reboot for Resident Evil, and New Line’s Evil Dead Burn is leaning into a French sensibility from a new voice. Those choices count when the audience has so many options and social sentiment turns quickly.

Originals and visionary-led titles bring the oxygen. Jordan Peele’s October film will be framed as a brand unto itself. Sam Raimi’s Send Help, dated January 30, 2026 at 20th Century Studios, centers Rachel McAdams in a survival-thriller premise with the filmmaker’s mischievous menace. SOULM8TE offers a sharp, spooky tech hook. Werwulf emphasizes period craft and an severe tone. Even when the title is not based on a recognizable brand, the bundle is known enough to turn curiosity into pre-sales and Thursday previews.

Three-year comps outline the plan. In 2023, a exclusive cinema model that observed windows did not deter a hybrid test from working when the brand was big. In 2024, craft-forward auteur horror rose in large-format rooms. In 2025, a reanimation of a beloved infection saga showed the market that global horror franchises can still feel recharged when they shift POV and stretch imp source the story. That last point is directly relevant to Sony’s 28 Years Later plan, which continues January 16, 2026 with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple, this time directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Alex Garland. The back-to-back plan, with chapters filmed consecutively, enables marketing to cross-link entries through personae and themes and to maintain a flow of assets without dead zones.

Aesthetic and craft notes

The craft conversations behind the upcoming entries suggest a continued turn toward tactile, location-specific craft. Lee Cronin has said his The Mummy will not repeat any recent iteration of the property, a stance that complements the practical-craft ethos he brought to Evil Dead Rise. The film wrapped principal photography and is set for its April 17, 2026 date. Expect a campaign that spotlights mood and dread rather than VFX blitz, with the New Line and Blumhouse partnership supporting financial discipline.

Robert Eggers, meanwhile, has spoken of Werwulf as the most severe project he has tackled, which tracks with a Middle Ages setting and authentic period speech, a combination that can make for textured sound and a spare, elemental mood on the big screen. Focus will likely warm the market to this aesthetic in trade spotlights and craft coverage before rolling out a tone piece that withholds plot, a move that has paid off for the filmmaker’s past releases.

On the franchise side, Evil Dead Burn is set up for tactile gnarliness, a signature of the series that connects worldwide in red-band trailers and sparks shareable screening reactions from early screenings. Scream 7 hints at a meta-horror reset that re-centers the original lead. Resident Evil will thrive or struggle on creature execution and sets, which fit with con floor moments and selective drops. Insidious tends to be a sound design showcase, with Dolby and Atmos spots that make the in-theater case feel essential. Look for trailers that highlight pinpoint sound design, deep-bass stingers, and dead-air cuts that land in premium houses.

Month-by-month map

January is jammed. SOULM8TE opens January 9, 2026, then Sony returns a week later with 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple on January 16. Return to Silent Hill follows on January 23, a somber counterpoint amid marquee brands. The month finishes with Send Help on January 30 via 20th Century Studios, a crash-survival thriller from Sam Raimi that puts a star forward in Rachel McAdams. The competition here is meaningful, but the tone spread opens lanes for all, and the five-week structure allows a clean run for each if word of mouth sticks.

Winter into spring prepare summer. Scream 7 arrives February 27 with legacy momentum. In April, New Line’s The Mummy reintroduces a classic monster on April 17, a spring frame that once favored genre counterprogramming and now accommodates big openers. The untitled Rob Savage film on May 8 feeds summer while maintaining horror’s hold on early May weekends that are not claimed by superheroes or family tentpoles.

Summer spreads the field. Scary Movie 6 on June 12 is lighter-toned and broader, then Evil Dead Burn on July 24 serves brutal intensity. The counterprogramming logic is sound. The spoof can hit next to family tentpoles and animated films, while the mid-summer gorefest hits squarely for older teenagers and genre diehards once the big Friday sequels have rotated off PLF.

August into fall leans franchise. The Insidious entry on August 21 gives the studio a spiritual-horror anchor where the brand has previously connected. Resident Evil slides in after September 18, a pre-October slot that still feeds into Halloween marketing beats. Jordan Peele’s untitled film holds October 23 and will dominate cultural oxygen heading into Halloween weekend, likely driven by a minimalist tease strategy and limited disclosures that prioritize concept over plot.

Holiday prestige and specialty. Werwulf on December 25 is a stakes that genre can play the holidays when packaged as filmmaker-first prestige. Focus has done this before, rolling out carefully, then capitalizing on critics’ lists and awards-season craft coverage to sustain conversation into January. If the film pleases critics, the studio can expand in the first week of 2027 while riding holiday turnout and holiday gift-card burn.

Title-by-title briefings, embedded in the narrative

Scream 7 (Paramount, February 27, 2026)
Director: Kevin Williamson. Top cast: Neve Campbell, with casting continuing to be revealed as production pushes forward. Logline: Sidney returns to challenge a new Ghostface while the narrative rethreads the original film’s essence. Rating: TBA. Production: Filming in Atlanta. Positioning: classic-DNA reset with a current angle.

SOULM8TE (Universal, January 9, 2026)
Producers: Atomic Monster, Blumhouse. Logline: A bereaved man’s synthetic partner shifts into something perilously amorous. Rating: TBA. Production: Wrapped principal for an early-year bow. Positioning: tech-horror with an emotional core.

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple (Sony, January 16, 2026)
Director: Nia DaCosta. Writer: Alex Garland. Top cast: Cillian Murphy, Jack O’Connell, and additional ensemble tied to a new antagonist faction. Logline: The second chapter in a trilogy grows the world beyond the immediate outbreak as a cult hardens in the ruins. Rating: TBA. Production: Produced consecutively with the first film. Positioning: continuation of a revived prestige zombie saga.

Return to Silent Hill (Cineverse, January 23, 2026)
Director: Christophe Gans. Top cast: TBA in updated campaign materials. Logline: A man comes back to a fog-shrouded town in search of a lost love, only to meet a unsettled reality and the town’s horrors. Rating: TBA. Production: Locked and U.S. theatrical booked. Positioning: aura-driven adaptation.

Send Help (20th Century Studios, January 30, 2026)
Director: Sam Raimi. Top cast: Rachel McAdams, Dylan O’Brien, Dennis Haysbert, Chris Pang. Logline: After a plane crash, an employee and her unyielding boss claw to survive on a uninhabited island as the control dynamic upends and mistrust rises. Rating: TBA. Production: Done. Positioning: star-forward survival chiller from a master.

The Mummy (New Line, April 17, 2026)
Director: Lee Cronin. Producers: Blumhouse, Atomic Monster, Doppelgängers. Top cast: roles not disclosed in official materials. Logline: A renewed take that returns the monster to terror, rooted in Cronin’s physical craft and suffocating dread. Rating: TBA. Production: In the can. Positioning: monster revival with signature voice.


Untitled Rob Savage Horror Film (Universal, May 8, 2026)
Director: Rob Savage. Top cast: Jessica Chastain. Logline: {A residential haunting piece that teases the fear of a child’s uncertain perceptions. Rating: TBD. Production: wrapped. Positioning: studio-backed, star-driven ghostly suspense.

Scary Movie 6 (Paramount, June 12, 2026)
Director: Michael Tiddes. Top cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, with the Wayans brothers back in the creative mix. Logline: {A comic send-up that riffs on current genre trends and true crime fervors. Rating: to be announced. Production: production booked for fall 2025. Positioning: broad summer counterprogrammer.

Evil Dead Burn (Warner Bros. domestic, July 24, 2026)
Director: Sébastien Vaniček. Top cast: Souheila Yacoub, with ensemble additions. Logline: A new infestation of Deadites spreads, with an overseas twist in tone and setting. Rating: TBD. Production: production in New Zealand. Positioning: uncompromising R installment meant for big rooms.

Untitled Insidious Film (Sony, August 21, 2026)
Director: awaiting reveal. Top cast: TBD. Logline: The Further stirs again, with a unlucky family snared by older hauntings. Rating: TBD. Production: targeting a summer lensing window for late-summer release. Positioning: steady supernatural brand in a historically strong slot.

Resident Evil (Sony, September 18, 2026)
Director: TBA publicly. Top cast: forthcoming. Logline: A clean reboot designed to reconstitute the franchise from the ground up, with an lean toward survivalist horror over action-forward bombast. Rating: not yet rated. Production: developing against a fixed date. Positioning: game-faithful modern reboot with crossover potential.

Jordan Peele Untitled Event Film (Universal, October 23, 2026)
Director: Jordan Peele. Top cast: unrevealed. Logline: carefully shrouded. Rating: TBA. Production: proceeding. Positioning: filmmaker event, teaser-driven.

Werwulf (Focus Features, December 25, 2026)
Director: Robert Eggers. Top cast: Aaron Taylor-Johnson, with other regulars expected. Logline: A medieval werewolf story built on antique diction and elemental dread. Rating: awaiting classification. Production: preproduction aligned to holiday frame. Positioning: prestige horror for the holidays, with potential awards-season craft appeal.

Wolf Creek: Legacy (Cineverse, TBA 2026)
Director: Greg McLean. Top cast: John Jarratt expected to return as Mick Taylor. Logline: The Australian outback slasher returns, with a cinema-first path before platforming. Status: date shifting, fall likely.

Why 2026 makes sense

Three operational forces define this lineup. First, production that slowed or recalendared in 2024 needed calendar breathing room. Horror can patch those gaps promptly because scripts often are set in fewer locales, fewer large-scale effects set pieces, and shorter timelines. Second, studios have become more strategic about windows. Theatrical exclusivity remains the goal for most of these films, followed by PVOD and then platform streaming, a sequence that has consistently beaten straight-to-streaming drops. Third, platform buzz converts. The marketing teams behind these titles will mine shareable moments from test screenings, carefully timed scare clips dropping on Thursday previews, and experiential pop-ups that feed creator content. It is a repeatable playbook because it converts.

Calendar math also matters. Early corridors for family and capes are leaner in 2026, leaving useful real estate for genre entries that can control a weekend or position as the older-lean choice. January is the prime example. Four horror lanes will cluster across five weekends, which gives each title a lane and limits cannibalization. Summer provides the other window. The parody leverages early family and action lifts, then the hard-R entry can pounce on a late-July lull before back-to-school.

Business outlook: budgets, ratings, and the sleeper hunt

Budgets remain in the ideal band. Most of the films above will stay under the $40 to $50 million threshold, with many far below. That allows for broad premium screen use without needing superhero-level volume to break even. The most likely R ratings include Evil Dead Burn, Werwulf, and possibly Resident Evil depending on the final cut. Scream 7, Insidious, and SOULM8TE can plausibly land PG-13 to maximize reach, though each franchise has toggled between ratings in the past. Specialty plays tend to lean R to preserve tone and intensity.

The surprise-hit pursuit continues in Q1, where low-to-mid budget genre can own weekends with minimal competition, and again in late summer, where horror often becomes the conversation when tentpoles tire. The 2026 slate is set up to maximize those pockets. January could easily deliver the first left-field winner of the year, and August into September gives Sony an avenue to hold screens with back-to-back supernatural IP while still leaving room for an indie breakout.

Internationally, brand recognition helps Resident Evil, Evil Dead, and Scream travel, while 28 Years Later benefits from a British setting and returning talent. Werwulf and The Mummy will lean on auteur and classic-monster awareness abroad. Streamers will amplify the tail, with copyright pickups boosting Universal’s slate and Shudder driving evangelism for Cineverse titles. Look for a strong PVOD phase overall, since horror fans have shown a willingness to pay for convenience after an opening weekend, especially when word of mouth is strong.

Audience journey through the year

From a moviegoer’s perspective, the 2026 horror year offers momentum and variety. January is a feast, February delivers a legacy slasher, April reintroduces a Universal monster, May and June provide a paranormal one-two for date nights and group outings, July leans brutal, August and September keep the supernatural momentum, October turns into a Jordan Peele event, and December invites a chilly, literate nightmare. That is how you hold talk and turnout without cannibalizing your own titles. The pattern also supports social campaigns that can ratchet upward, using earlier releases to trailhead the audience for bigger plays in the fall.

Exhibitors are pleased with the spacing. Horror delivers frequent Thursday-night spikes, lean footprints, and strong PLF uptake when the creative supports it. The 2026 slate has at least three titles that can credibly make the premium-screen case, with The Mummy, Evil Dead Burn, and Werwulf all showcasing surface detail, soundscape, and framing that benefit from larger formats. The calendar also leaves room for specialty platformers to open in New York and Los Angeles, build reviews, and slide into national conversation as the fall progresses.

A Strong 2026 Horizon

Schedules slip. Ratings change. Casts refresh. But the spine of 2026 horror is defined. There is brand heft where it matters, inventive vision where it helps, and a calendar that shows studios sense the cadence of scares. The awards and festival pipeline into 2027 will come into focus once the fall festivals lock, and it would not be surprising to see at least one eleventh-hour specialty buy join the party. For now, the job is simple, deliver taut trailers, hold the mystery, and let the screams sell the seats.